


Pearls Are Not Allowed To Disobey

by Crowsbait



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, i don't know how to tag???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowsbait/pseuds/Crowsbait
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pink Diamond rescues a defective Pearl from being crushed and repurposed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pearls Are Not Allowed To Disobey

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I'm shit with titles, tags and descriptions! If you get this far then frankly I'm impressed.

“I will take the pearl. I am a Diamond after all, I can take anything she tries to throw at me.”

 

The words echoed in Pink Diamonds mind as she stared at the misshapen pearl in front of her. A long, deep breath escaping her lips.  She didn’t need another servant, she didn’t need a companion, and to be honest who knew what might form from this imperfect pearl. She could just leave the bubble on a shelf, a decoration for her quarters. The gem was beautiful, even with its imperfections, and hadn’t she done enough already? Saving this gem from being shattered before she could even see the light of the morning? Surely she had fulfilled her duty. And yet, she could not put the milky gem away on a shelf to collect dust. With a wry twist to her mouth the Diamond popped the bubble, stepping back as the gem rose into the air, glowing brightly.

 

\---

 

The Pearl had been an excellent companion, fulfilling her duties exactly as programmed. Of course, she knew this, she had been the one to add the final touches to the Pearls personality before production had begun. The Pearl was an expert at any task asked of her, eyes lighting up when she was directed to a job. Pink Diamond did not remember programing such a broad, beautiful smile into the Pear, howeverl. A defect. Nothing to worry about when thinking of everything else that could have gone wrong.

The Diamond went over the pearls programming manual that she had helped to write, trying to figure out what other abnormalities her pearls defect might uncover.

“Pearl - hand me the next manual.” spoke the giant woman, holding her hand out expectantly. When there was no confirmation, no happy chirp of obedience and her hand remained empty she looked towards her servant in confusion. “Pearl-”

“Why?” as soon as the tall, thin gem spoke the word her face contorted in pain and she gasped, crumpling to the floor, her arms shooting out to catch her fall .

“Oh Pearl…” Pink Diamond lamented, leaning down and brushing her coif from her wide eyes. The Diamond hummed and furrowed her brows, watching Pearl with trepidation. The gem trembled and stared up at her master, the confusion clear in her wide eyes. This was not an approved reaction.

"My Pearl. It's a safety precaution. Pearls are not allowed to disobey."

 

\---

 

The following weeks the Pearl began to flinch, her eyes tinged with fear whenever a request was made. Pink Diamond found that she preferred the Pearl before the correction.

 

She had her Pearl stand before her while she used her data pad to key in new commands. The coding, complex and seemingly unhackable, was broken quickly and efficiently by it’s creator. Pink Diamond rewrote a few sections before staring at the failsafe that had been programmed into every pearl. With a swipe of her large finger it was deleted, her Pearl would no longer be subject to the consequences of questioniong her master again. She sighed and leaned back, smiling at the frightened Pearl before keying in the command for a hard reset.

 

\---

 

It takes her Pearl a full month to reform and when she does her face is different. Her nose is longer, her hair lighter. Pink Diamond must have accidentally changed some of her appearance in the coding though she does not recall seeing it.

 

Her smile is back.

 

\---

 

This time it is only a week before the questions begin. Without the correction her mind explodes, and Pink Diamond can see the physical effort it takes for her to restrain herself from speaking out of turn.

 

"Permission to speak. "

 

"Yes Pearl, you may." The tall and spindly companion looked down, her confidence gone, her hands clutching at her sides.

 

"Why were pearls created? Am I really an artificial gem? How can I be artificial when I am experiencing true emotions?”

 

Pink Diamond considered her Pearl for a long moment, unsure how to proceed. She had anticipated the simpler questions, but had not been prepared for this sudden existential crisis. With a sigh she brought up her data pad, tapping into the Pearls network again.

 

“No no no no, My Diamond, My Mistress, please! I have only just begun, I have only started to see-”

 

The Pearls mouth snapped shut suddenly, her eyes growing, filling with tears. Her physical form exploded into steam, a wretched sob echoing through the room.

 

\---

 

This time she’s prepared for the existential crisis.

 

She answers the questions as they come, calmly,  carefully. She shouldn’t do this, she knew better, but the defective Pearl intrigued her. Such a small deviation from her sisters and yet it seemed to have given her actual life. Every day she looked more and more like a real gem, acted like a real gem. Because the Pearl was mostly confined to Pink Diamonds personal quarters it was never an issue. Never seen or questioned. It wasn’t until she brought the Pearl with her to a meeting that she realized her mistake.

 

“The scouts have come back from another mission, and reported several planets ripe for Kindergarten production. Most are in friendly territories, one is a green planet in an unfamiliar system. It bears organic life and could be a good port for us, I’ll need one of you to accompany the construction team to explore it further.” spoke Blue Diamond, leveling her gaze on her three sisters.

 

“Why do we need the planet to have organic life?” came a quiet voice from the corner. The other personal assistants of the Diamonds stared ahead of them in horror, refusing to look at the offending gem as the room went dead silent.

 

"Is this one yours, Pink Diamond?" The blue Diamond asked, voice laced with ice. The woman sighed, not bothering to look at her beautiful defective Pearl. Her eyes rose to meet her sisters steely gaze, a soft smile playing on her own lips.

 

“Yes she’s mine. She’s defective, you’ll notice the shape of her gem. I’m keeping her as a personal servant, to further study the anomaly so I may work out kinks we might have missed in the original construction of the Pearl series. I’m sorry if she’s offended you, dear.” she explained cooly, the lies falling easily from her lips. The other Diamonds mouth set into a thin hard line, her eyes narrowing as she glanced from her sister to her concerned companion. With a wave of her hand the issue was dismissed, and thankfully the meeting went soon after.

 

“You’ll need to consider resetting that anomaly.” Blue Diamond commanded as she linked arms with her kin. They walked in silence, the quiet occasionally broken by sniffling behind them. The blue gem craned her neck to look at the sodden Pearl, her posture broken, her face covered in tears and snot. She sneered and stopped, tilting the others chin so that they are eye to eye. “This Pearl needs to be reset _immediately_ , my Rose.” The Pink Diamond pouted and sighed, turning to look at the shameless display behind them.

 

When they reached her quarters, Blue Diamond continued, leaving the command to reset the pearl one more time before disappearing down the corridor. Pink Diamond set the gem up again, standing before her as she tapped away at her data pad.

 

“Will it hurt?” warbled a tiny voice. The woman looked up to see the tear streaked face of her Pearl and her heart swelled with empathy and guilt.

 

“Yes. Being reset will not be pleasant.” she said truthfully. The pearls sobs shook her chest, her very being, and the tears began to flow again.

 

“Is it going to hurt? Discovering who I am again?” she choked, large periwinkle eyes pleading with her master. The Diamond keyed in the last few confirmations and sighed, watching as the pearl went stiff as a board, her brows furrowed in pain.

 

“I hope not.”

 

 


End file.
